Provocative, angry, and optimistic: all adjectives describing the work of Karl Marx and The Communist Manifesto. These adjectives could also describe a selection of poems written by Langston Hughes. The two texts spanning decades worth of literature and crossing over genres have subtle similarities that are brought to light when you look at the structure and writing style of both authors. The Communist Manifesto, published in 1848, suggests that all of history has been determined by an economic system of time and class struggles. The three separate poems by Langston Hughes illustrate his heritage, place in society, and ideology. The two pieces of literature are not automatically thought of as similar, however when looking at the overall message
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This is the underlying motivation for Marx’s manifesto and Hughes’ poetry. The living conditions of the working class and the lives of those that surrounded the writers’ had a profound effect on their writing. Enlightenment ideas in France inspired Marx to delve into the theory of socialism, and what he believes it means to be human. Society was undergoing many changes during the time the Communist Manifesto was published. Citizens began to feel as though the middle class was ruling society and started to revolt. Marx was committed to radical social change, and while Langston Hughes might not have agreed with what Marx wrote, he too was a champion of change. Hughes was an influential writer and member of his community during the Harlem renaissance. He was a voice for the underprivileged and fought for recognition of African American artists. Due to the real estate failure in Harlem in the early 1900s, many white owned properties were rented out to black tenants. Harlem became the cultural center of black America. The Harlem Renaissance was influenced mostly by the black experience in America and the struggles they faced fighting for equality in the early days. In many ways, Marx and Hughes are similar; through their writing, their influence, and in that they both believed in what they …show more content…
The point of the manifesto is to convince millions of workers to overthrow the rich that control them, so it is no surprise the amount of hyperbolic language found within. In the very first sentence he states “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle” which can be contradicted and elaborated on to say “most” instead of a definite and historically inaccurate “all”. There is also a sense of back and forth in the beginning when Marx jumps from “freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, ...” and so forth. This can be compared to the first in the selection of poems by Hughes, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”. In this poem Hughes has a sense of anaphora starting various stanzas with “I’ve known rivers” and continuing the theme with metaphors about his ancestry. Throughout the first poem in the series and through the entirety of Marx’s manifesto a technique of classification is utilized. In the manifesto, there are different sections pertaining to different ideals and sections of thought; in the poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”, a man’s activities are classified by his heritage. Hughes writes “I bathed in the Euphrates… I built my hut… I looked upon the Nile… I heard the singing of the Mississippi…” All of these actions are organized by time and metaphor. Hughes is not saying he directly bathed in the Euphrates or raised pyramids over the
This is the underlying motivation for Marx’s manifesto and Hughes’ poetry. The living conditions of the working class and the lives of those that surrounded the writers’ had a profound effect on their writing. Enlightenment ideas in France inspired Marx to delve into the theory of socialism, and what he believes it means to be human. Society was undergoing many changes during the time the Communist Manifesto was published. Citizens began to feel as though the middle class was ruling society and started to revolt. Marx was committed to radical social change, and while Langston Hughes might not have agreed with what Marx wrote, he too was a champion of change. Hughes was an influential writer and member of his community during the Harlem renaissance. He was a voice for the underprivileged and fought for recognition of African American artists. Due to the real estate failure in Harlem in the early 1900s, many white owned properties were rented out to black tenants. Harlem became the cultural center of black America. The Harlem Renaissance was influenced mostly by the black experience in America and the struggles they faced fighting for equality in the early days. In many ways, Marx and Hughes are similar; through their writing, their influence, and in that they both believed in what they …show more content…
The point of the manifesto is to convince millions of workers to overthrow the rich that control them, so it is no surprise the amount of hyperbolic language found within. In the very first sentence he states “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle” which can be contradicted and elaborated on to say “most” instead of a definite and historically inaccurate “all”. There is also a sense of back and forth in the beginning when Marx jumps from “freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, ...” and so forth. This can be compared to the first in the selection of poems by Hughes, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”. In this poem Hughes has a sense of anaphora starting various stanzas with “I’ve known rivers” and continuing the theme with metaphors about his ancestry. Throughout the first poem in the series and through the entirety of Marx’s manifesto a technique of classification is utilized. In the manifesto, there are different sections pertaining to different ideals and sections of thought; in the poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”, a man’s activities are classified by his heritage. Hughes writes “I bathed in the Euphrates… I built my hut… I looked upon the Nile… I heard the singing of the Mississippi…” All of these actions are organized by time and metaphor. Hughes is not saying he directly bathed in the Euphrates or raised pyramids over the